Top 3 reasons to add chatbots to your social media

While most people consider chatbots key for customer support, many brands only have these options within their own websites. But, according to one expert, chatbots should also be used within brands' social media. Here's why.

"Brands need to evolve from social monitoring and social listening to social customer support. Doing this has historically been very expensive. B2B brands will likely hire dedicate staff to respond to every social interaction, while B2C brands won't have such a luxury, unless their business is focused on buying and selling products and services online. However, even then they will triage social interactions to focus on urgent requests and issues vs handling all requests. With chatbots as part of brands' social strategy, they can ensure the best support for customers,
said John Forrester, Chief Marketing Officer, Inbenta.

Answer questions and provide product and service information on social channels

"Chatbots can ensure all your customers understand the products and solutions your company offers. Via social channels, chatbots can let your brand move beyond static information on websites and search to enable customers to directly discover the details about your company's offerings," said Forrester.

Utilize social channels for taking orders and driving promotions

"With chatbots, marketing teams can driving promotional offers to customers they are engaging with on social media. For instance, on Facebook messenger, once the chatbot has a conversation open, the chatbot can start new conversations with customers in the future when a promotion is available. In addition, the chatbot can directly take orders and process everything instead of forcing customers through a traditional e-commerce flow," said Forrester.

More from Forrester and Inbenta later this week, including how brands can being implementing chatbots in their social media.